Pro:

Everyone should have a pet growing up. Goldfish, dog, cat, rabbit, hamster, turtle, tortoise, even a pet rock would be better than having no pet. Growing up with pets gives children such memorable core memories, not to mention it has also been scientifically proven that kids that grow up with pets are more responsible, empathetic and loving. 

It’s hard not to love a little puppy with huge eyes, or a kitten that is purring in your arms, or watching your turtle that walks tremendously slow across the yard or terrarium. As a child grows up watching or experiencing these things, they grow to learn how to care for something other than themselves, which thus teaches the important skill of responsibility. Having a child be responsible for the feeding, cleaning, walking and caring for a pet teaches this important skill from a young age, and it has even been shown that these skills carry on into older years and their daily lives outside of just caring for pets. 

On top of responsibility, pets are shown to teach kids how to be empathetic. Studies have shown that when children bond with a pet, empathy is encouraged toward the pet and fellow humans as well. With a positive relationship with an animal, a child learns how to show empathy to another living thing. Not being too rough with the animal and cuddling the animal teaches children to understand the animals’ different moods and energy levels. All are important life lessons a pet can teach a child from a young age that will assist their social skills with fellow peers not just during childhood, but also into adulthood. 

Lastly, a pet can teach a child how to love. When a child grows up with a pet in the house, they will see how their parent pets the animal, cuddles with the animal and talks to the animal, all signs of love. A child will mimic these signs of affection, as most children follow their parents actions and this will encourage the growth of showing love to their pet. As their love for the animal grows, the probability their quality of love will transfer over into other areas of their life, such as family and school life. 

All around, having a pet during childhood is the only correct answer when it comes down to pet or no pet. A pet during childhood helps encourage empathy, responsibility and love, as well as teaching the child important life skills that will carry them through to adulthood. 

Con:

Pets play a significant role in people’s lives. They’re considered to be part of the family. They foster development and bring people together. Based on these general statements, it is completely understandable why someone would believe that everyone–especially children, who would benefit from gaining the responsibility and social development that comes with owning a pet–should have a pet of their own. 

However, this statement lacks nuance. While pets can be greatly beneficial in people’s lives, sometimes having a pet isn’t the best fit for every kid. 

People can be in certain living situations that would actually make it much more of a burden to own a pet, rather than it being something that would bring them joy and foster growth. In a situation where having a dog or cat is not feasible, some could say that people could benefit from a smaller, more manageable pet, such as a fish. 

I had a series of goldfish in elementary school, and these were the only “pets” I’ve ever had. I put pets in quotations because I feel like, for an animal to count as a pet, there needs to be a level of attachment and a degree of responsibility that simply does not exist with fish. 

Having a pet fish didn’t teach me much about responsibility, and I certainly didn’t have a familial bond with any of the fish I had as pets (honestly, only a couple of them lived long enough for me to even have the chance to bond with them). Fish are easy to replace, same with hamsters and snakes. They don’t have distinct personality traits that make them different from others of their species, and you might as well not exist to them. 

Of course, my experiences with having goldfish as pets won’t be the same as everyone else’s. People can have positive experiences with fish, hamsters and other animals that, yes, are traditional pets, but are not nearly as common pets as dogs or cats.

Applying an absolute to every kid does not factor in our individual differences and needs. Some people are a dog person, others a cat person, some people have an interest in snakes and reptilian pets, while others don’t have an affinity for pets at all. These rules apply to everyone, regardless of their age.